Judy Rife: Hardy commuters tell post-Irene tales

Remember the commuters who had Hurricane Irene rend asunder their carefully honed routines?

Judy Rife

Remember the commuters who had Hurricane Irene rend asunder their carefully honed routines?

Remember the clash of bus and train cultures and the fisticuffs at the park-and-rides? Remember the train-bus-train shuffles and the lost MTA bus drivers?

So how are those Irene-tested commuters doing now?

Linda Cancel: If I don't get to the Chester park-and-ride before 5:30, it's still questionable whether I'll get a space, because many Metro-North commuters didn't go back to the train. At least 40 to 50 people are parking elsewhere — and something desperately needs to be done before one of them is killed crossing Route 94 to get to the bus.

Lori Kennedy: The commute (from Salisbury Mills) was already extreme, at one hour and 45 minutes, but having it turn into 2﻿ 1/2 to three hours with lots of switching from trains to buses and back was a nightmare. So I really appreciate the "normal" commute now!

Mark Silverstein: Metro-North lost my wife as a customer for good. Short Line is a superior way for her to commute and the (year-old) Circleville park-and-ride has been a godsend. That said, Short Line's facilities at the Port Authority are horrible and their ticketing policies are too restrictive.

Stacy Rivera: It's been glorious to be able to sleep until 5 instead of 4 and to sit on one train and get to work in less than three hours (from Otisville). I'm thrilled that I don't have to transfer from train to bus to train and I can read or work without interruption.

Barbara Clark: Irene may have been a blessing. We got another bus added in Middletown to alleviate the congestion, and the people who didn't return to the train now participate in the culture of the bus commute. Short Line needs to upgrade its fleet next.

Rick Winters: I'm still with the vanpool (from Bullville) and I doubt I will ever return to that rip-off train. The van and the weekly Metrocard cost me the same as the train alone. Tolls are the bane of driving, though, and they're only going to get worse — regardless of what Prince Andrew (Cuomo) says.

Dave De Nicola: I stuck with the train, as inconvenient as it was (from Campbell Hall) after Irene, because I work in Jersey City. And maybe I've been lucky, but I've experienced very few disruptions in service since.

Ellyn Sullivan: The big issue now is the air conditioning; the trains are like iceboxes. Then, we've been 5-10 minutes late every night (to Campbell Hall) because of some broken signal around Suffern. Other than that, and the occasional engine dying and the continuous door problems, everything has been pretty good.

Remember Lee Glick, who faithfully reported whenever there were no spaces in Monroe — which was often? He is still on the case: Hi, it's your friend, Lee, from the bus. As with our last chat, the Monroe park-and-ride is the same and even worse. When are they going to add spaces?